Shopkeepers want to pay 25% salary, write to PM, CM

Ashish Roy | TNN | Apr 22, 2020, 04:20 IST

Nagpur: Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC), an association of local traders and businessmen, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to pay only 25% salary to their employees during the period of lockdown.
State government has made it compulsory for employers to pay full salary to their employees during the lockdown.
The letter states that other than the establishments selling food items, all other shops are closed. “Our cash flow is zero and hence we are not in a position to pay full salary to our employees,” it adds.
NVCC has claimed that shopkeepers paid full salary for the month of March even though they were forced to down their shutters in middle of the month. “However, we are not in a position to pay full salary for the month of April. Shopkeepers have to pay electricity and water bills, pay taxes, buy necessary things. Even though their income is zero they are incurring lot of expenditure,” says the letter.
The shopkeepers want that those employees who are registered with Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) should be paid part salary during lockdown period by the agency at par considering it to be absence due to illness.
NVCC has further demanded that for those shopkeepers whose employees are not registered with ESIC, government should pay the salaries as per the figure mentioned in Income Tax (IT) returns for 2018-19.
NVCC has informed the government that it has told its members to pay 25% to 30% salary to their employees till government comes out with a rescue package for businessmen.